MADRID – It’s okay that the important thing in penalties is having the courage to kick them, as the chicks’ coaches and some beautiful songs say, but if you also score them it’s much better. Lautaro Martinez, captain of Inter, knows something about this and is top of the Serie A scoring charts despite not being a penalty taker for his team. And there’s a reason: he gets more than one in three wrong. The last one, painful for the Nerazzurri and very painful for him, ended last night, kicking the fifth spot kick high against Cholo Simeone’s Atletico Madrid. Result: Colchoneros qualified for the quarter-finals and Nerazzurri, who also won 1-0 in the first leg at San Siro, at home. Thinking about the championship.
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An unappealing statistic
Limiting ourselves to statistics in official matches between the Argentine national team and Serie A – without therefore considering the youth teams – Lautaro has scored 16 penalties in his career and missed 9, all wearing the Inter shirt. Going backwards, this season he failed in Serie A against Atalanta on February 28th, and on December 20th against Bologna in the Italian Cup, with relative elimination in the round of 16. Last year, he made a mistake against Spezia, on 10 March 2023. However, the most important goal of his life from the penalty spot also dates back to last year: the one made against the Netherlands at the World Cup in Qatar, as the fifth penalty taker, decisive for passing the turn. There he must have said to himself: ok, so I know how to take penalties. But statistics and evidence say that this is not really the case.
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by our correspondent Franco Vanni
Il Toro as Superpippo
Lautaro, a relentless striker from open play but a shaky penalty taker, is in excellent company in the history of football. If there are players who have never made a mistake from the spot in their career – from Sonny Anderson, former Lyon and Villareal, to Miralem Pjanic, up to the legendary Pauleta – there are numerous strikers who make mistakes from 11 metres. Pippo Inzaghi, Simone’s brother and relentless striker, was famous for his aversion to the spot, but he lost confidence by kicking from a standing position in front of the goalkeeper. He retired with a record of 17 goals and 8 errors. And it is a true case of Fiorentina this season, in which not only the talented striker Nicol Gonzalez, but all the players who go to the spot seem to lose their aura. And in the national team the case of Jorginho still holds sway, implacable at Chelsea but lost in blue, to move from the case of wasteful attackers to specialists who get stuck.
The captain towards renewal
The errors in the penalties certainly do not reduce Lautaro Martinez as a striker and as a player. Simply put, it is unlikely that he will return to kicking from the spot anytime soon after in Madrid he took the responsibility of kicking the fifth penalty, the decisive one, and missed it. Yesterday his teammates had to console him, first on the pitch, then again on the return journey to Milan. It was he, captain and unfortunate penalty taker, who was the most heartbroken. He will have the opportunity to make up for it on the pitch with Napoli on Sunday at San Siro, obviously in action. And his agent Alejandro Camano is working with the Nerazzurri transfer market men to discuss the extension of his contract, with an adjustment of the salary beyond 30 June 2026, the current deadline. He is thinking of a significant increase in his salary: 8 million net per season, plus bonuses linked mainly to team results. Better for him, compared to those from the spot.
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– 2024-03-14 20:33:25
